The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
In many commercial aircraft environments, a pilot is responsible for manually selecting a take-off thrust for the jet engines of the aircraft being flown. Typically a co-pilot makes a cross check to ensure that the appropriate take-off thrust level has been selected. As will be appreciated, with the numerous checks and pre-flight take-off procedures that are required with a commercial jet aircraft, the selection of take-off thrust adds further responsibility for the pilot and co-pilot.
In some instances, the selection of take-off thrust is made by uploading commands via an ACARS (Aircraft Communication Addressing and Reporting System) wireless data link. The ACARS data link may be controlled from a control station operated by an entity such as an airline company. However, this introduces additional cost because of the equipment and manpower associated with operating the ACARS, and the bandwidth required to send the needed take-off thrust selection commands.
In one aspect the present disclosure relates to a method for automatically selecting a take-off thrust for an engine of a jet powered mobile platform. The method may comprise a plurality of operations including providing a flight management computer; providing a configuration code from a first set of information relating to operational parameters of the mobile platform; using a database of information pertaining to different locations from which the mobile platform may perform a take-off operation; using the flight management computer to access the configuration code and the database to determine a specific take-off thrust that needs to be applied during the take-off operation at a specified one of the locations; and using the flight management computer to determine if an operator of the mobile platform has input a command to the flight management computer to override automatic selection of the take-off thrust.
In another aspect the present disclosure relates to a method for determining a take-off thrust for an engine of a jet powered aircraft. The method may comprise a plurality of operations including providing a first database including a plurality of aircraft configuration codes, with each aircraft configuration code representing a plurality of operational parameters of the aircraft; storing the first database on a component of the aircraft; using a second database having a plurality of lookup tables, with each lookup table being associated with at least one aircraft configuration code, and including a plurality of different airports from which the aircraft may perform a take-off operation, and a take-off thrust to be used at each airport; and using a specific aircraft configuration code to retrieve a specific one of the lookup tables within the second database to obtain an engine take-off thrust to be used at a particular one of the airports during a take-off operation.
In another aspect the present disclosure relates to a system for automatically selecting a take-off thrust for an engine of a jet powered aircraft. The system may include a flight management computer and a memory in communication with the flight management computer. An airport/runway look-up table database may be stored in the memory. The look-up table database may include a plurality of lookup tables, with each lookup table being associated with at least one aircraft configuration code. Each aircraft configuration code may represent a specific collection of operational parameters of a specific aircraft. Each lookup table may include a plurality of different airports and a take-off thrust code representing a specific engine thrust setting to be used for a take-off operation at a specified one of the airports. The flight management computer may be adapted to use the aircraft configuration code to select the look-up table to obtain a specific engine take-off thrust to be used in a take-off procedure from the specified one of the airports.
In still another aspect the present disclosure relates to an aircraft that may include a flight management computer and a memory in communication with the flight management computer. An airport/runway look-up table database may be stored in the memory. The look-up table database may include a plurality of lookup tables with each lookup table being associated with at least one aircraft configuration code. Each aircraft configuration code may represent a specific collection of operational parameters of a specific aircraft. Each lookup table may include a plurality of different airports from which the aircraft may perform a take-off operation and a take-off thrust code representing a specific engine thrust setting to be used at each airport. The flight management computer may be adapted to use the aircraft configuration code to select the look-up table to obtain a specific engine take-off thrust to be used in a take-off procedure from a specific one of said airports at which said aircraft is performing a take-off operation.
In still another aspect the present disclosure relates to a method for automatically selecting a take-off thrust for an engine of a jet powered mobile platform. The method may include a plurality of operations including providing a flight management computer and a configuration code from a first set of information relating to operational parameters of the mobile platform. A database of information may be provided that pertains to different locations from which the mobile platform may perform a take-off operation. The flight management computer may be used to access the configuration code and the database to determine a specific take-off thrust that needs to be applied during the take-off operation at a specified one of the locations. The flight management computer may be used to determine if a subsystem located remotely from the mobile platform has provided a command to the flight management system indicating that the take-off thrust is being selected by the remotely located subsystem.
In still another aspect the present disclosure relates to a method for automatically selecting a take-off thrust for an engine of a jet powered mobile platform. The method may comprise a plurality of operations including providing a flight management computer and a configuration code from a first set of information relating to operational parameters of the mobile platform. A database of information may be used that pertains to different locations from which the mobile platform may perform a take-off operation, the database may include a plurality of independent lookup tables, with each lookup table including a particular airport with at least a plurality of runways useable by the mobile platform at the particular airport. The flight management computer may be used to access the configuration code and the database to determine a specific take-off thrust that needs to be applied during the take-off operation at a specified one of the locations.